I have a yearling palomino colt (actually a dunalino, but you get what I mean lol) and he is really light. His sire and all his siblings are much darker, and he is normaly darker too, but this year he just lighted up. What can I do to get his coat darker are shinier?

Also, my 3 year old grey filly had a bad skin infection on her tail and she lost a lot of the hair on her tail. The infection is almost completely gone and I would like to know how to make her tail healthier and thicker again.

Please help!!!

equestrian_rider465

08-22-2010 05:19 PM

For your palomino, I would try to see if you could get a coat enhancer. You basically feed them to your horse, and their colour and shine improve greatly. I know "Gold as Sun" is pretty popular. I've heard great things about it. I haven't personally tried this product, so I wouldn't know from my own experience.

For your grey horse, I think it would depend on how long her tail is, but when I cut just the ends of of my horse's tail, they seem to grow longer and healthier because I am cutting of all of the dead ends. I also spray them with LOADS of detangler and brush them every day. It makes them look shiny and fuller. (:

Hope this helps a little. (:

soileddove

08-22-2010 07:01 PM

If you're going to go with a coat enhancer, I would suggest Black-As-Knight over Gold-As-Sun if you're looking at getting a darker coat. BAK gives a darker tone, whereas GAS enhances gold highlights. Coat Enhancers But instead of paying extra money for coat enhancers, look at the ingredients. Paprika is one of the main ones, and is what I feed to my palomino mare. They actually feed paprika to flamingos in many zoos to keep their pink extra pinkie for zoo visitors.

With paprika however, you have to be careful to take your horse off of it about 2 weeks before a show if you show at a rated level because it can show up as an anti-inflammatory because of the capsaicin naturally found in the pepper. Also, be sure to keep the paprika in a dry, cool location. Paprika becomes hot/spicy when heated. I feed about 1/2 tablespoon each per feeding to my horses and that does it.

For the tail, I would use some M-T-G.. Works like a miracle. Product Details

You also might consider adding some sort of oil to your horses feed to help with coat and hoof health overall. I use corn oil because it costs less, but flax oil is supposed to be more balanced for horses. I used to feed whole flax seeds, but that got expensive quick too.

Deerly

08-23-2010 02:15 AM

I use Gold as Sun on my Palomino and I think it works great! I'm very very happy with the product and plug it wherever I can! Will use it all year round!

He's also muscled up and looks like an all round more gorgeous guy but his color is dramatically darker. Even the vet commented. He's gorgeous, love Gold as Sun! He even spends several hours a day in the pasture and the outdoor of half his stall is exposed to direct sunlight. He's never blanketed or has a fly sheet because it's too hot.

Gidget

08-23-2010 04:02 AM

wow,big difference!

i like your horse as a darker pali.

twirler21

08-24-2010 09:30 PM

I say that your horse might just need a bath because that helps a lot.

rockinrobin4115

08-26-2010 12:21 AM

Hmmm...I have a Palomino mare also, might have to try some of that stuff as well...if all it takes is a little paprika, might as well! haha! She was a little darker earlier this summer when I got her, but now has lightened up a little bit on the top and gotten some beautiful dapples - don't really mind it though!!